1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a food package that facilitates microwave heating of the contents of the package.
2. Description of Related Art
The design and construction of packaging for containers of consumables, such as potato chips, tortilla chips, corn chips or other snack food products, involves consideration of application-specific criteria. For example, many such snack food products are packaged in “pillow” type packages made from flexible packaging film. When the snack food product is relatively dry, a packaging material that provides a high barrier to moisture migration is typically used.
It is also desirable to consume some food products at temperatures above room temperature. This is frequently the case when a food that has been cooked is being consumed. Ideally, a consumer wants to eat the food shortly after it has been prepared so it is still warm. Sometimes, however, the “leftovers” from meals are preserved at low temperature in a container stored inside a refrigerator. The leftovers are then heated in a microwave, on a stove, inside a hot air oven, or other known heating method, shortly before they are consumed. Similarly, many examples of commercially available refrigerated and frozen foods exist in the marketplace, which are also heated shortly before consumption.
In the case of relatively dry food products, cooking and packaging technology enables market participants to store and sell dry food products for weeks or months at room temperature after they have been cooked, before they lose their desirable organoleptic properties, become stale, or become microbially unstable. Such products are known in the industry as shelf stable food products. Shelf stable food products are typically relatively dry—less than 3% moisture—and have been cooked at temperatures above 100° C. to kill any pathogens present in the ingredients. Examples include, snack chips such as potato chips, tortilla chips, fruit chips and vegetable chips, as well as extruded puffs, pretzels and many other cooked, dry food products.
Much like non-shelf-stable foods, shelf stable food products typically have a highly desirable taste. Some restaurants serve warm tortilla chips that have been fried in-house as an appetizer. Dry snack products that are produced commercially are also known to have a highly desirable flavor when sampled shortly after coming off of a product line. However, the prior art fails to disclose a food package that facilitates the heating of a relatively dry food. Consequently, a need exists for a package of food that allows a consumer to easily heat and consume the dry food products inside.